The Quill of Gaius
by firstdragonrider
Summary: Claudia and Pete manage to get yelled at by Artie and almost get killed by a unforgiving swimming pool in the same day. What else could possibly go wrong? Rated T for Warehouse trouble.
1. Chapter 1

"Hi Artie, just grabbing a book!" The older man grunted in response, only casting a quick glance at his bikini-clad Warehouse agent before her hand snatched up a book lying on his desk and she retreated from his line of view. He went back to typing on his computer, his eyes scanning the screen with trained precision, sorting through the information with efficiency and – Myka in a bikini? His fingers paused in their typing and he blinked a couple of times as he stared at the screen. He suddenly realized what he had just witnessed and swiveled his chair around just in time to see her slip out the door as it shut behind her. Blinking and furrowing his bushy eyebrows, Artie tried to make sense of what he had just observed. Was she working on a tan or something? And why would she be doing that here at the Warehouse on her day off? Scanning through his head, the older man tried to locate any swimming pools in Univille, but found none and was therefore even more confused.

Shrugging off his confusion, Artie turned back to his computer and continued searching through the vast information, looking for hidden artifacts in the multitude of internet articles and sites. It was then that he heard the unmistakable 'splash' that came faintly from the door, followed by the even more unmistakable cry of 'Pete!' coming from a certain Warehouse apprentice/nuisance. With a growl, Artie spun back around and got out of his chair, marching toward the door while muttering curses under his breath. Just because it was their day off did not mean that they had the right to disturb his working environment.

Stomping out into the white corridor, he was immediately blasted with warm air as he left the safety of the air-conditioned office. The drawback to having the Warehouse in the middle of nowhere was that during the summer, the heat could get a bit… unbearable. And right now it was 101 degrees outside. Grumbling about the warmth, Artie quickened his pace so that he could get it over with and return to the cool office before he had a heatstroke. Opening the door that led outside, Artie huffed as the degrees went up a bit more as he stepped out into the sun. Squinting, his glare turned into disbelief and he stuttered slightly at what he saw in front of him. In front of the Warehouse stretched a large pool, pretty big and eight feet deep at the furthest end. Myka sat in a pool chair with sunglasses on and a book in front of her beside the pool while Claudia was lying on an air mattress in the pool, her eyes closed with a content smile on her face.

Pete was slowly wading toward the unsuspecting girl, and he silently disappeared under the water and came up right underneath her with a roar, flipping the air-mattress and causing Claudia to go tumbling into the water and into Pete's arms. She shrieked as the cold water enveloped her and then started laughing hysterically as Pete's nimble fingers tickled her exposed stomach. She squirmed and struggled, trying to get out of his grasp while begging for him to stop in-between laughs. Artie continued to stutter, his hands motioning at the pool in disbelief before he finally got his tongue back.

"What in god's name are you doing?" This effectively silenced Pete and Claudia, and they both stopped struggling, Claudia's hands seizing their attempt to pry Pete's arms away from her midsection. Myka jumped and nearly dropped her book at the sudden outburst. There was silence for a moment before Pete decided to answer their enraged mentor.

"Swimming…?" he offered with a half grin, poking his head out beside Claudia's. She grinned as well, motioning at Artie.

"Why don't you join us bossman, it's like, one hundred and bazillion degrees and the pool is great! It's a bit chilly, but perfect for this weather. You need some time to chill off!" Pete nodded enthusiastically at Claudia's words, but they did nothing but make Artie even more worked up.

"I do not need to 'chill off'!" he snapped, glaring at them. "And will you let go of her," he added in an annoyed and flustered voice, pointing at Pete. He wasn't comfortable of how close the Warehouse agent was holding the youngest member of the team. Pete and Claudia both raised an eyebrow, glancing at each other before Pete released her. Artie continued to glare at them, but his gaze flickered to the side of the pool where he found something that made him stutter again.

"Is that…?" he gasped in disbelief, pointing at the feathered quill that was lying by the pool side.

"Gaius Maecenas quill?" Claudia ventured. "Yes, yes it is." Artie turned his murderous glare back at Pete and Claudia and they both shrunk back with fear at the intensity of Artie's stare.

"How many times have I told you that you are not to mess around with the artifacts?" he spat, pointing an accusing finger at the two of them.

"But Artie we-" Pete began, but he was quickly cut off.

"No! No buts! You two have seriously violated the Warehouse code, not to mention that you've put your lives in extreme danger by using an artifact without the proper handling!" Before the two of them had any chance to respond, Artie turned his accusing finger on the unsuspecting Myka. "And you!" he began, making Myka jump again and close her book with a snap. "I trust you to be the only sane person on this team and you do nothing to stop these two bumbling idiots?" Myka stuttered and blinked a couple of times. "You didn't think once that maybe using an artifact was against the rules? And you didn't even consult me, but you went along with it? I would have expected more from you Agent Bering." The fact that Artie was calling her by her last name was enough to frighten Myka, but she sat up in her chair with an apologetic look on her face.

"Artie, we didn't think that there would be any harm done, it's just a swimming pool, we can make it disappear whenever we want."

"Come on Artie, we just wanted to have some fun, you don't have to get so worked up about it." Claudia offered, grabbing a hold of the flipped air-mattress so that it wouldn't float away. Artie turned his gaze back on her.

"I have every reason to get 'worked up' about it! You have no idea of the extreme consequences you have just exposed yourself to!" Pete narrowed his eyes and shook his head, making his way toward the latter to get out of the pool.

"Serious consequence, really Artie? It's just a pool, we'll just get rid of it. Don't worry about it." Pete grumbled as he got out, reaching for his towel. Artie's eyes grew wide and he reached out toward him.

"Pete, get back in the pool," he said urgently, causing the younger man to pause in his actions and stare at Artie as though he was crazy.

"You just yelled at us for swimming, and now you want me to get back in the pool?" Pete asked in confusion. Artie waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Yes, get back in the pool. Now!" Pete continued staring at him like he was crazy until he suddenly winced in pain.

"Ow," he said quietly, narrowing his eyes as he brought his hand before his face. His eyes widened as he watched cracks starting to appear from his fingertips, stretching down his hand and starting up his arm. He suddenly cried out in pain as his other hand started doing to the same thing, the excruciating feeling of his skin cracking apart causing him to stumble slightly.

"Myka, push him into the pool!" Artie ordered since she was closer to him than he was. She swiftly got up and pushed him roughly into the water, with Pete crying out in pain the entire way down. There was a loud splash as he was submerged into the pool, and silence followed which was broken by Pete's gasp as he surfaced for air.

"Pete, are you okay?" Myka asked worriedly, crouching down by the pool.

"Don't touch the water!" Artie barked, and Myka scrambled backwards toward her chair. Pete held his hands up in front of him with a shocked expression, twisting them around and clasping them together. The cracks were gone, almost as though they had never been there.

"Artie," Claudia whined in a worried tone, making her way over to Pete to make sure that he was okay.

"What the hell just happened?" Pete spluttered, staring up at Artie who was muttering to himself.

"The quill of Gaius Maecenas is capable of drawing out a swimming pool in the blink of an eye, but an unfortunate side effect is that anyone who touches the water must remain in the pool or their skin will crack and they will fall apart into dust." From the look of horror on the three faces in front of him, Artie continued grumbling. "Gaius was a bit of a luxury man, and he didn't like people leaving before the party was over…" He trailed off, once again looking at Pete and Claudia with a serious expression.

"Do you understand why we don't play with artifacts now?" he asked curtly, letting his gaze sweep over the three of them. He received frantic nods and he huffed in satisfaction.

"Good." Pausing for a moment, he bent down and picked up the quill carefully, placing it inside his coat pocket. "Myka, come with me, I need your help in figuring out how to solve this." As Myka quickly sprung up from her crouch, Artie glanced at her again and then shook his head in disapproval. "And put something on please." He growled, earning a blush from the younger woman.

"Hey, what about us?" Claudia called, stretching her hands above her head as though she was offended. Artie glanced backwards and then turned back toward the Warehouse.

"Stay in the pool and keep as much of your body under water as possible!" he instructed which caused Claudia to quickly pull her arms back under water with a small yelp. They watched as Artie and Myka disappeared into the Warehouse before facing each other with worried expressions.

"This was a really bad idea, wasn't it?" Pete said with a slight frown, sinking down so that his head was only above water.

"Yes," Claudia muttered, "Yes it was."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Wow, well, that was like the biggest break from updating ever. I'm so sorry guys, but here is the next chapter. Love you all. _

Even though it was close to six o'clock, the flat area around the Warehouse was still unbearably hot, and the two occupants of the pool were still submerged in the water. Pete was pressed up against the corner of the pool, busying himself by making bubbles and seeing how big they could get. Claudia had vented some of the air from her air-mattress so that it still floated but her body was enveloped by the water. She was dozing as she drifted around slowly, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the rays of warmth from the sun.

"You know, for being trapped in a killer pool, this is kind of nice." She commented, not opening her eyes to look at Pete. The man stopped making bubbles and stared at her.

"Nice? This is boring! I don't have the same girly instinct to lie around and soak up the sun, I need to be doing something manly!"

"Blowing bubbles doesn't seem very manly." Claudia responded nonchalantly, peeking one eye open to look at him. He gave her a deadpanned expression before rolling his eyes.

"And it is therefore proven that I am driven to extreme measures here!" He brought his hand out of the water to gesture wildly at the entire pool. "There is absolutely nothing exciting to do in here. And since Artie has forbidden anything foreign to touch the water, I'm stuck here with absolutely nothing to do." When his stomach reminded him how empty it was, he stuck out his finger at Claudia. "And how I can't eat anything." He pouted and mumbled something about wanting cookies. He suddenly yelped when small cracks started forming on his finger and he quickly dunked the body part back into the water with a pained expression. Claudia grimaced, both her eyes open now as she stared at Pete in dismay. "I don't like this anymore," Pete grumbled, checking his hands under the water to make sure they were fine.

In that moment, Myka's head popped around the opening door to the Warehouse and she made her way outside, grabbing a pair of purple gloves from her pocket. She was now wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and she had a sympathetic look on her face.

"How are you two holding up?" she asked, stopping quite a few feet away from the pool. Claudia and Pete both looked toward her and Pete sighed loudly.

"Bored. Beyond belief. Please tell me you've figured out how to get us out of here without crackling apart?" Myka winced slightly.

"Sorry Pete, no luck yet."

"It's gonna be dark soon, please tell me that you'll have us out of here before it gets dark and cold?" Claudia asked, maneuvering her air mattress so that she was facing Myka.

"Artie, Lena, and I are working on it, don't worry, we'll get you out soon." Myka paused for a moment, biting her lip. "But we need the air mattress." Claudia furrowed her eyebrows together.

"Why?" she asked, her tone taking on one of annoyance.

"Artie doesn't want any foreign things interacting with the water, remember?" Myka stated, motioning for the air mattress.

"But this was in here with us before; it'll crack if we take it out."

"Which is why Artie wants it so that he can study it." Claudia opened her mouth to disagree but Myka's warning glance caused her to snap her mouth shut and she grudgingly got off the mattress, floating it over to Myka. The older woman strapped on the pair of purple gloves and gingerly lifted the plastic toy out of the water, making sure to keep it far away from her.

"Thanks." She mumbled, concentrating on keeping herself dry. She started to briskly walk back toward the warehouse.

"What about us?" Pete called after her, making his way over to stand beside Claudia.

"Hang in there!" She responded, disappearing into the warehouse with the air mattress in tow.

"If we stay in here much longer my fingers are going to wrinkle away rather than crack and dry up," Claudia muttered, studying her hands under the water. Pete growled in annoyance, making his way back to his corner. Claudia followed, having nothing better to do.

* * *

><p>"Marco."<p>

"No."

"Marco."

"No Pete."

"Marco please?" Pete cracked an eye open to see Claudia glaring at him as though he was the cause to all of their problems. "I'm bored, okay, I get desperate when I'm bored," he whined, leaning his back against the pool wall. It was nearly nine now, and the water was getting a bit too cold for both of their liking. The sun had just gone down and the sky was a beautiful orange color, but unfortunately this meant that their only source of heat was also gone. Lena was busy setting up lights by the pool so that they still had visibility when the sky finally turned dark.

"I'm cold," Claudia muttered, her slightly blue-tinted lips standing out against the rest of her skin. "And hungry," she added, a bit louder so that Lena could clearly hear her.

"Sorry Claud, no food in the pool, Artie's orders." Lena flashed a sympathetic look at them before disappearing into the warehouse with an extension cord. Claudia and Pete both groaned simultaneously.

"You know what would be nice right now?" Pete asked. "A warm bed, with pajamas. And no water." Claudia moaned at the thought.

"And hot chocolate. And cake." They both sighed miserably and Claudia shuddered, wrapping her arms around her. "I don't think it's healthy to be submerged this long in water. Especially not when it starts getting really cold."

"We'll be out of here soon, don't worry," Pete said, more to reassure himself than anything.

* * *

><p>Claudia shivered violently, staring up at Artie with anger and desperation. It was past midnight and now freezing cold.<p>

"Please Artie, I'm c-c-cold." She pleaded, her teeth chattering slightly. Artie looked at her and Pete with a pained expression,

"I'm sorry, I can't, not until we know that the artifact has been neutralized."

"Claud, come here," Pete shivered, opening his arms which caused a rush of cold water to hit his chest where his arms had been hugging tightly before. He shuddered but motioned for Claudia and she came without complaint, pushing herself against Pete's chest in an attempt to gain warmth. He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her exposed back to try to get some blood flowing. Artie huffed, looking at Pete with disapproval. Pete rolled his eyes.

"Sh-she's freezing Art-t-ie!

"And he's warm," Claudia chattered, burying her nose in his neck which caused Pete to yelp from the sudden cold movement. Claudia mumbled an apology and continued to shiver, much to the disapproval of Pete.

"We need to get-t out of here." Pete said seriously, giving Artie a determined look. "We're going to get hypothermia if-f-f we don't-t."

"Myka is retrieving the counter-artifact as we speak, it's just a matter of time-"

"Bef-f-ore one of us-s-s dies-s?" Claudia muttered with a shudder.

"Or before we lose import-t-ant body part-t-t-s?" Pete grimaced and rubbed Claudia's arms. Artie suddenly raised both eyebrows in his classic "aha" expression. He quickly started to head back toward the warehouse. "Art-t-t-tie!" Pete cried out in exasperation.

"Just hang on tight, I've got an idea!"


End file.
